Michigan Gives Restaurants Emergency Action Plan
What would you do if your restaurant lost power or water service for a day or more? Or faced a sewage back-up, fire or flood?

Heres some advice out of Michigan: Make like the Boy Scouts and "be prepared." In other words, make sure you have an emergency action plan in placebefore the emergency strikes.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture gives you a head start with a 50-page set of practical guidelines for handling power and water outages, water contamination, sewage back-ups and fire or flood.

The states emergency action plan guidelines start with a checklist overview, followed by detailed entries on damage assessment, the appropriate response for affected operations and recovery for each situation.

In the case of a power outage, for example, the EAP covers how to handle refrigerators, ventilation, hot food holding, dishwashers and more. It also gives guidelines on determining which food should be destroyed and restoring operations when the power comes back.

California Ups Energy StandardsAgain
The California Energy Commission on Dec. 15 approved regulations that raise efficiency standards on a variety of electric appliances. Once again, Californias standards are the highest in the country.

Apart from an agreement reached in November to raise federal standards on equipment such as large package HVAC systems, no federal regulations are in place yet for the equipment covered by Californias new standards.

The news means manufacturers will have to market their most efficient appliances in the state. Equipment covered by the regs includes commercial reach-in and walk-in refrigerators and freezers; ice machines; hot holding cabinets; air conditioning units; incandescent and under-cabinet fluorescent lamps; and water dispensers.

The regulations take effect on a staggered schedule beginning on Jan. 1, 2006. The cumulative effect of the new standards, according to the CEC, will mean utilities can avoid building three new power plants with a combined output of 1,000 megawatts in the state in the next 10 years. The resulting lower power plant emissions will be the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off California roads.

For more information on energy savings you can expect as a result of the higher efficiency standards, go to www.energy.ca.gov.

Noise Making Mush Of U.K. Pub Workers Ears
"Ear today, gone tomorrow." Thats the short way of warning that loud workplace noise levels are permanently damaging employees hearing, according a recent report from the U.K.s Trade Union Congress and the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

The report, called Noise Overload, says that many of the U.K.s 568,000 employees in the pub, bar and club industry are regularly subjected to noise levels as high as 110 decibelsthe equivalent of standing next to an airplane taking off. More than 170,000 U.K. workers suffer from deafness, tinnitus and other ear conditions due to excessive noise exposure at work.

Contributing to the problem, the report notes, is that existing U.K. Noise at Work regulations are not being enforced. New, tighter Noise at Work regulations, mandated by a European Union Directive, take effect in Februarybut not for the U.K. leisure industry, which has won a postponement of the measures until 08.

Noise at Work Regulation 1989 requires employers to protect workers hearing if they are exposed daily to levels higher than 85 decibels. Suggestions include using acoustics, design and layout to limit excessive noise; offering hearing protection and regular breaks away from the loud music; and providing free hearing tests.

No Puffing In Saskatchewan
Canada is slowly but surely heading in a smoke-free directiondespite the fact that one in five Canadians enjoys an occasional cigarette.

On March 1, Saskatchewan plans to become the next Canadian province to banish smoking from all public areas, including restaurants, bars, bingo halls, bowling alleys and casinospending jurisdictional negotiations with native American, First Nation-run casinos on urban reserves. Saskatchewan would join Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories and Nunavut in the 100% ban.

And Ontario recently unveiled plans for its own 100% clampdown. The regs, if passed, would ban smoking in all Ontario workplaces, including separately ventilated rooms at restaurants and bars, by May 31, 2006. The bill would also prevent smoking in enclosed patios.

Despite the intended benefits to public health, the stringent smoking regs are taking a toll on operators. In Manitoba and New Brunswick, which enacted bans in October, some 70% of the provinces bars and pubs report a negative impact on overall sales. And in Ontario, operators who have added expensive designated smoking rooms stand to lose that investment.

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association supports regulating smoking at the provincial level, as opposed to a patchwork effect of municipal regs. But CRFA also strongly supports allowing restaurants to use designated smoking rooms, with separate ventilation, to give operators (and customers) a choice.

Online Calculators Give Quick Energy Estimates
Trying to put together some energy consumption estimates? The Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon, Calif., has some handy tools on its Web site that can help. Online calculators there make it easy to figure out energy usage for a range of equipment. Easy to use, the tools automatically calculate results based on parameters you enter.

The Air Load Calculator gives you an estimate of your monthly heating and/or cooling load based on your location, and also provides fan energy calculations. Look up your location, then enter the hours your store operates, heating and cooling temperatures in your store, and the amount of air you intend to move. The calculator does the rest.

Life-Cycle and Energy Cost Calculators allow you to compare total operating costs of different pieces of equipment over their service lives. Using the calculators can tell you if a higher upfront investment could save you money in the long term. Calculators are available for both gas and electric ovens, fryers, griddles and steamers as well as gas underfired charbroilers, reach-in refrigerators and hot holding cabinets.

The site also has a Pre-Rinse Spray Valve Calculator that can tell you how much water and money you can save by using a low-flow spray valve.